Literature Review

Medicare threatens to pull funding from HCA’s embattled Mission HospitalSTAT, by Tara Bannow; 2/6/24Five years after investor-owned HCA Healthcare took over an esteemed nonprofit hospital in North Carolina, Medicare is threatening to cut off payment for any services it provides seniors. The rare and dramatic move follows a Medicare revelation that patient safety is in “immediate jeopardy” at Mission Hospital in Asheville. That designation is the most severe the agency can hand out. HCA has just a few weeks to fix the problems or lose its Medicare funding.

How Steward Health’s relationship with private equity souredModern Healthcare, by Alex Kacik; 2/5/24The financial decline of Steward Health Care may serve as a cautionary tale for health systems and other providers considering private equity investment. 

CVS Health, academic medical center form ACOModern Healthcare, by Lauren Berryman; 1/25/24CVS Health and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are partnering on an accountable care organization, they announced Thursday.

FTC sues to block proposed CHS-Novant hospital saleModern Healthcare, by Alex Kacik; 1/25/24The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued to block Novant Health’s planned $320 million acquisition of two North Carolina hospitals from Community Health Systems, alleging the deal could increase costs and reduce care quality. In February, CHS and Novant signed a definitive acquisition agreement involving Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville and Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville, which is transitioning from an acute-care hospital to an inpatient behavioral health facility.

Patient-centered focus is key to reducing hospitalizations, value-based success, experts sayMcKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 2/6/24To keep hospitalization rates low — and thereby produce better results within the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model — providers need a good understanding of patients’ goals to tailor care to meet their unique wants and needs. ... Keeping these goals at the forefront of care can reduce their chances of being hospitalized, according to Cindy Campbell, senior director of advisory services at healthcare technology firm WellSky. But defining patients’ goals is not just a recommendation, she noted: It’s mandated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Emergency department management of common end-of-life and palliative care symptoms: Three casesCureus, by Alice Chang, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna; 2/4/24... Patients with serious illness, even hospice patients, present to the ED in increasing numbers for symptom management. It has become essential for emergency physicians to care for patients who are not seeking life-sustaining measures but instead need quality-of-life interventions. The development of a clear, concise review of the most common acute symptoms can provide a framework for EM physicians to adequately address the needs of patients at the EOL.

The No. 1 problem still keeping hospital CEOs up at nightBecker's Hospital Review, by Kelly Gooch; 1/31/24... Here are the 10 most concerning issues hospital CEOs ranked in 2023, along with their average score on an 11-point scale of how pressing CEOs find each issue.

Hospitals serving Black & Hispanic populations lack cancer resourcesOncology Times, by Sarah DiGiulio; 2/1/24Hospitals across the U.S. that treat the highest number of Black and Hispanic patients have significantly lower odds of offering key cancer services, such as PET/CT scanning, robotic surgery, and palliative care, than other hospitals. That was the top finding from recent research published in JAMA Oncology.

Patty and Jay Baker reinforce palliative care at Mount Sinai: A significant stride towards enhanced patient care and medical trainingMedriva, by Zara Nwosu; 1/31/24The partnership between Patty and Jay Baker and Mount Sinai is much more than a financial investment. It represents a significant step forward in the advancement of palliative care. By focusing on both patient care and medical training, this initiative addresses the needs of the healthcare system from multiple angles. This comprehensive approach ensures that all aspects of care, from diagnosis to treatment, are improved.

Team of caring nurses help end-of-life patients fulfill wedding dreams by arranging hospital ceremoniesPeople, by Erin Clack; 1/30/24Natasha Steels-Webb and her colleagues came up with the idea to create boxes filled with wedding essentials to pull off hospital ceremonies. "Myself and a colleague decided to create the wedding box after a patient we were caring for had become very unwell and it was clear she was not going to recover," Steels-Webb said in a post on the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust's website. "She had been with her current partner for many years, but they just hadn't got around to getting married — and this was something they both wanted," she continued.

In the hospital? Don't overlook the chaplainNext Avenue, by Alice Tremaine; 1/30/24Chaplains are the hospital's best-kept secret. Best-kept secret from patients, that is. Most of the hospital staff has figured out just how helpful chaplains can be, and will call the chaplain for everything that's difficult, scary or just plain weird: an unruly patient, a patient who received terrible news, a nurse who believes a hospital room is haunted, a mistress who showed up while the patient's wife is in the room.Editor's Note: Click here for "Common Qualifications and Competencies for Professional Chaplains," by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc.

Steward Texas medical center closing campusBecker's Hospital CFO Report, by Madeline Ashley; 1/25/24Port Arthur-based the Medical Center of Southeast Texas, part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care, is closing its Beaumont campus, including its emergency department and all hospital-related services, effective Feb. 2.

Health system is closing two Wisconsin hospitalsChief Healthcare Executive, by Ron Southwick; 1/24/24The Hospital Sisters Health System said this week that it will close HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls over the next three months.